Month: February 2004

Miriam wanted to do this horror movie marathon by watching all the
currently showing flicks …so Saturday night, Ah Lung (Miriam’s bf)
dropped by my place to pick me up since there’s an established
association between Saturday nights and me ending up incapable of
operating a motor vehicle safely, and my vehicular accident history
does not inspire faith in the others so I don’t have to drive. Heh.

We then picked up Ah Boon and he had come with offerings. There
seems to be this beer called “Tiger Special Classic” out on the markets
now. It didn’t to taste any different from the normal Tiger beer and
evoked (not entirely unwanted) memories of Cap Langkau. Anyway, we
headed to Star Cineplex after that to go get the tickets. There two
that she hasn’t watched – Ju On 2 and Dead End. I haven’t watched any
of them. We finally settled for the latter and went to get some supper.

This is supper at the Central Market, Kuching. The stall’s name is
Sin Kwang Heng and they’ve been serving soya bean and sio bi’s for as
long as I can remember.

The four of us had that and went back to Star to catch Dead End.

Photo taken in cimema.

The movie was alright, there’s a lot of that sudden creepy music
leading to a Horrible Thing (TM) scenes that has become a staple of
horror movies. There was on particularly disconcerting one with the
mother seeming to scratch an itch that wouldn’t go away, and she kept
on going at it, and the camera pans right and we see that she’s
scratching her brain, the skull fragment has fallen off to expose the
brain.

I think that the movie counts too much on the “sudden shock” horror
movie cliche though I think they managed it well, since I could feel
the people behind me recoiling in fright. The funniest exchange of the
day:
(sudden horror scene)

Anyway, after the movie, we received word that raids are still in
full force (sigh). Tropicana (?) or another disco/entertainment venue
was raided earlier during the night. We drove around to await further
news and went hunting for Ah Kua’s for my digital photography
collection. Here’s one of them:

Unfortunately, they managed to obscure their faces before I took the
photo. The flash is terribly slow and my digicam is the Nikon 5700,
which no one in their right mind would call low profile, so I didn’t
get many good ones, the camera can be spotted a mile away. I’ll only be
publishing this one anyway. This does not mean that we’re against
transsexuals or anything as malignant as that. It’s just street
photography, a hobby of mine. :)

Anyway, true to the basics of economics, word started filtering in
that dealers are trying to offload as much of their stock as they can,
since word about raids get around and there’s be no one in left the
outlets except the exclusively alcohol representation. It would be
logical to assume that hoarding the pills for next week due to Acts of
Law Enforcement would be the sane thing to do, but strangely, the
Kuching market subscribes to an alternate line of thought and goes for
a more aggressive approach – they offload it by undercutting “normal
street prices” which is usually reported as RM 35 outside a venue and
anywhere from RM 40 upwards inside.

These were going for RM 30 each or RM 80 for 3 pills, going as cheap
as RM 1,750 for 100 tablets bulk. A friend of ours bought the 3 pack
(he’ll be the only one dropping) and wanted to reagent test it at my
place, which I didn’t mind at all, so long as there’s relevant data to
publish about the Ecstasy pills going around Kuching now.

Disclaimer: I did not consume the pills nor do I have
anything illegal in my possession. I quit all illicits remember? All
three pills were consumed by a mutual friend who shall remain unnamed,
but we’ll call him SWIM for consistency in publication. I did not know
that person before today and I don’t have any of his contacts either.
He just wanted me to reagent test them to see what substance it
contains and said he’ll tell me what it felt like, called him just now
and this is what he has to say:

(All text below is by SWIM, but sixthseal.com has full copyright and
intellectual property ownership claims granted by SWIM in return for
reagent testing the Ecstasy tablets. All photographs are taken by me.)

X (XXX, Xtreme Games) Ecstasy pill report

Pill name: X, XXX, Xtreme GamesPill color: Beige/dark yellow, almost mustardy.Circa: Kuching, Sarawak (February 2004)Details: There’s a large X stamp covering the side of one pill
and a smaller x inside the large one. There is no score and the back is
poorly pressed. The pill was quite soggy and had a white inner layer.
The pills seems to be originally white and then dipped into coloring.Pill contents: MDMA

I, bearer of good news, stand witness that there’s more real Ecstasy
(MDMA) in the market now. This may be due to a more sophisticated
clientele, or to the relatively short acting properties of this
compound, compared to methamphetamine, which makes MDMA ideal for a
night out. I was quite pleased and surprised when the Marquis result
went purple/black:

And the Mandelin reagent produced a shade of purple as well:

I triple dropped this (crunched up and swallowed all three Ecstasy
pills at the same time). Obviously I’m not very big on ascertaining the
MDMA content of each pill beforehand. Needless to say, this is not in
the interests of harm reduction since there might be more possible
medical complications. I’ve has always been a loud proponent of
multiple pill consumption, which seems to be a concept which is foreign
in Kuching. People seem to go really slow here, one or half a pill and
maybe the other half later.

Front of the pill with the X imprint.

Wtf? I’ve never seen the point in dropping a single pill, except for
review purposes. I typically quad drop (for weaker pills) and triple
drop (for stronger ones), since our group of friends are in different
lines of work so it’s only Saturday nights. Go hard or go home. ;) I
heard these ones are strong, so I triple dropped after testing for
active compounds with the reagents. I feel safe and I’m not worried
about MDMA, since I’ve had quite a bit of experience with it, so I
didn’t mind consuming an potential atypically strong batch since I’ve
been on higher doses (560 mg MDMA lab tested).

T+ 0.15 The typical indicators that an MDMA psychedelic trip is next on your itinerary.

T+ 0:30 I have to credit the local pills for being able to hold it’s own in terms of quality.

T+ 1:00 Very nice! I haven’t been this happy in a long time! :) I must have let my serotonin stores fill up nicely.

T+ 1:10 Jaw chattering, teeth clenching and feelings of alternating
extreme cold and extreme heat manifested. The body temperature
regulation issue resolved itself soon, but Miriam noticed that I had
unnaturally dilated pupils and the others could see I was peaking hard.

T+ 1:30 Totally out of it, Speech was rendered near impossible due
to heavy slurring and I found it hard to communicate due to the
inability to remember words and construct proper sentences. My friends
could tell that I was much blurer (than usual anyway ;)). I could
maintain some semblance of sobriety if the situation warrants it,
thought it probably won’t fool anyone in a drug raid.

Events after this point are only vague half forgotten memories, just
remember a wonderful flood of serotonin which I haven’t experienced in
a while. There was extreme nysagamus which adds to the beauty of MDMA.
I’m not a big fan of pills, to be honest, I’m more of a meth fan, since
MDMA usually precedes the dreaded E-pression. Three of these (no
tolerance, last pill was 1-2 months ago) did give me a wonderful MDMA
experience. I thought I couldn’t get the same effects from MDMA anymore
but I was proved wrong. It was beautiful…

Back of the Yellow X pill – not very well pressed.

RTB around 5 hour mark. Sleep doesn’t seem to be forthcoming even at
T+ 11:00 despite generous benzodiazepine administration. The comedown
is a bit harsh too, to say the least. The depression storm is
definitely building up and it seems like a big one this time. With one
hand, He giveth and with the other, taketh away. ;) Nevertheless, I
give it a much deserved:

Rating: 9/10

Splatterday Night Fever:29th February 2004

A least complimentary photo of yourself every Sunday. Come as you
are. Scattered Sundays (TM) is a designation day of rest according to
the gospel. Here at sixthseal.com, we like to think of ourselves as
Christians and thus is bound by the teachings of the Bible. The Lord
hath speaketh! In deference to this religious observation, comments
will only be replied on Monday. ;)

In other news, I’m planning to go for a full renal test this week.
I’ll love to see the results. My girlfriend always admonishes me with a
“hen tuo when ti” when I say something like this. :) I admit, I’m a bit
of a hypochondriac, but I want to go anyway, if just to see the
results. Which medical center would be cheaper? Normah or Timberland?
I’ll wager RM 50 that someone is bound to say, “Renal function test? At
your age?” ;) I’ll love to reply with something like “Yeah, I wanted to
see if 8 years of recreational drug use did any damage to my kidneys.”,
but obviously, a smartass reply should be avoided since our fine
country Malaysia does not offer full doctor patient confidentiality.
It’s definitely a far cry from medical professionals in Australia who
treats the patients (had several drug induced ER trips) and releases
them after lightly treading the issue about whether the patient wants
to talk to the inhouse drug dependency counselor (it’s optional), with
no obligation to report to the police. Hell, they even give you your
stuff back…

Sarawak, MY. 29th February 2004. Leaping into the new leap year, the
city of Kuching today saw another clinic issuing a permanent script for
benzodiazepines to veritas, a seasoned doctor shopper who has managed
to obtain multiple legitimate scripts for restricted items as diverse
as dexamphetamine (which is the dextro isomer of the potent stimulant
amphetamine) to various benzodiazepines, including flunitrazepam
(Rohypnol, the so called “date rape drug”) at the same time in the past.

He has emigrated to the city of Kuching and successfully procured 2
mg of clonazepam (better known as Rivotril or Klonopin) and 10 mg of
diazepam (the chemical name for Valium), infinitely renewable every two
weeks in his latest exploit, which he called “Doctor Shopping Kuching
Edition Issue #5”. The dazed doctor was left saying vaguely “Someone
came in and said he has social phobia, is new to Kuching, has been on
benzos for years and told me what he was prescribed.”

“I don’t really know what happened after that. I think I tried to
change his script to antidepressants but he knew all about SSRIs, NARIs
and tricyclics, taking the words out of my mouth before I’ve even
formed them. He even knew about Buspar and said it made him feel even
worse before I wanted to suggest it. Before I knew it, I found myself
docilely writing out what he wanted and asked him to come back every
two weeks. I even asked him if he wanted an extra 2 mg of clonazepam! I
can’t remember what happened, just wisps of memories, but I know he
somehow convinced me to write a permascript for him…very persuasive
but polite young man though”, he added.

We asked medical professionals about their opinion in this new
development. One doctor, who only wanted to be known as Dr. Lah (names
changed to protect the innocent) said “I hate that motherfucker! He’s
undermining the credibility of medical professionals like us and
flaunting his exploits on the Internet! I found several blister packs
of Dormicum missing during my stock take…I bet he’s the one who
bribed…er, nevermind.”, and fell silent. When asked whether he knew
that veritas’s sister is also a doctor practicing in Christchurch, New
Zealand, he immediately asked “Really? How old is she? Pretty or not?”,
while the 70 year old, small statured man worked on discreetly removing
his wedding ring.

One doctor, on the condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying “I
don’t really mind at all. I’ll like to welcome veritas and all the
people like him to my friendly clinic. You know lah, nowadays in
Kuching, you throw one stone, you’re bound to hit two doctors on the
head. Hard to make ends meet you know! I rather eng eng and just take
in clients, I mean, patients like veritas, in and out, script
him and off he goes. I don’t care for those people with real ailments.
I mean yuck…plus there’re not loyal some more. Only come when they’re
sick. Hmph! How can generate consistent revenue stream like that? I
like people like veritas who comes in every two weeks for a guaranteed
income, er…I mean, to help him with his condition. I’ll like to take
this opportunity to tell everyone that yes, there are understanding
doctors out there! Call me ya!”

Generic APO 10 mg diazepam

Another doctor added “I’ll like to see him try that shit with me,
I’ll hoot him upside down, then he know!” The doctor later requested
that his name not be published.

We also interviewed some passerby’s for their opinion regarding this
issue. The first one, Hee Poh Krit vehemently denounced veritas’s
actions, saying that his shenanigans makes it harder for “legitimate
people suffering from anxiety to get benzodiazepines”. He refused to
comment further when asked whether he’s on benzodiazepine therapy, only
saying, “I take these things strictly according to the doctor’s
instructions coz I would feel bad otherwise”, in a high and mighty,
self righteous tone before hurrying away.

The next civilian, called Koh Pee Kat also condemned the activities,
though he ended his statement by saying, “Er…actually, I only know
that there’s a cheaper alternative to 5 zai (the local slang for black
market Erimin 5, a tablet containing the benzodiazepine nimetazepam)
after reading sixthseal.com and castitas.com. I dunno a benzo from a
banzai before being enlightened and I now use his techniques to doctor
shop. I don’t want to give him credit coz he’s my competition now. Even
though you can say he’s my guru.”, he added, hanging his head.

We finally managed to get hold of veritas and he only had this to
say: “Eh, help me keep track of my perma scripts okay? Dr Y (C) for 2
mg clonazepam and 2 mg lorazepam daily, refill every Saturday, Dr N (S)
for 30 mg phenobarbital and 10 mg diazepam daily, refills every other
Sunday and Dr K (K) for 2 mg clonazepam and 10 mg diazepam daily, go
for refills every alternate Saturday. Got it? Oh, and if I forget,
remind me first letter is the name of the doctor and second letter is
for the area. Thanks! Appreciate your help!”

When asked whether he knew that possessing multiple scripts is
illegal, he literally disappeared, leaving nothing but a person bearing
a remarkable resemblance to him who insists he’s not veritas but “Huai
Bin” and when asked about veritas, said “Who the hell is he and why
should we care for him?” before making a quick exit.

We do not know where or when the elusive veritas will resurface again, but we can be sure of one thing – he will strike again.

I just received the shipment from amazon.com today. I went to get it
from the post office during lunch break (Friday), which was why I
didn’t have time to reply all the comments. This package went through
two customs checks on the 24th and the 25th. Naturally they opened the
box to inspect its contents.

I think it’s appalling…I was told that it was inappropriate to
open mail not intended for you and obviously customs did not have the
same parental supervision. I mean, Jesus, what if I ordered Uncle
Fester’s Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture or a shipment from a
research chemical company? It’s very rude and shocking behavior and I
think you should apologize for invading my privacy. ;)

All jokes aside, this is the hardcover book I’ve wanted: Good
Chemistry – The Life and Legacy of Valium Inventor Leo Sternbach. It’s
a Valentine’s Day gift from my girlfriend, thanks! It’s quite obvious
that I’m a big fan of benzodiazepines and I’ve read a lot of research
about this wonderful family of drugs, so there’s not much I could learn
from that part, but it was very nice to read about the history behind
the man who created Valium.

All hail the creator!

Here’s an excerpt I’ll like to share with you all:

The NIMH estimates that 5.3 million Americans suffer from social
phobia. Unlike GAD or panic disorder, equal numbers of men and women
seem to be affected. The disorder usually begins in childhood or early
adolescence and is frequently, and unsurprisingly, associated with
other anxiety disorders and with depression. Social phobics are also at
risk from alcohol and drug dependence, since they are likely to
self-medicate, trying to use alcohol and/or drugs to overcome their
fears.

There’s a catch 22 in all this…they’re also more likely to exceed
prescibed doses and become heavily dependant on benzodiazepines. How’s
that for irony? :)

This is the obligatory and somewhat masturbatory post to commemorate
my first paycheck in my second job – RM 1,820. :) I’m a System Engineer
and I do mostly stuff related to networking (no, I’m not a network
admin) and programming. Basically, what I do is related to distributed
network systems, I can’t say much more than that really, it would
reveal which company I’m working for since there are not many players
in this line of work.

I get to play around with all sorts of lovely electronics and
basically develop solutions for enterprise level clients (which the CTO
reviews before deployment), though the company is pushing into the
lucrative small business and other associated markets. My apologies for
being vague, I really can’t say what industry I’m in since there’s not
many companies doing this and I want to preserve my anonymity in
Kuching.

Anyway, about my salary, I get RM 2,000 per month (base salary) – RM
180 goes to EPF (KWSP) so that’s RM 1,820 take home. My employer
contributes RM 240 using the 9/12 EPF formula so that’s RM 420
automatic savings per month. I love EPF, didn’t have it in my first
job. I work a six day week (half day on Saturday) but that just means
there’s one less day to waste money. That also means I make full use of
Saturday nights to Party Hearty (TM). =D

Hello there, you’re reading sixthseal.com – the weblog where we go
to great lengths to provide quality reviews about stuff that you might
not want to try. Today, we will be focusing on Arrack Putih Cap Langkau
– the ghetto liquor brewed in Sibu, Sarawak. Buatan Malaysia, ini! Very
local too.

We used to call this Chap Langjiaw for reasons which would be
obvious if you tasted this fine product of my home state. It retails
for the low, low price of RM 5 for 570 ml of about 30% alcohol. I said
about because the distillery does not know exactly what proof the
alcohol content is at, so it just put +- beside that sign. We do not
have those newfangled thingies to measure alcohol content in Sibu, you
see.

Back to where Chap Langkau got its nickname, look at the fine
quality of the product. No, that is not an optical illusion, you saw it
right. The liquor is made and poured into empty Tiger beer bottles!
That’s how ghetto Cap Langkau is. Sharikat Peng Guang Pengarakan Sdn
Bhd is very big on recycling and they take environmental issues seriously and reuse what they can.

I’ve seen it come in various beer bottles, but the similar thing
about it is, it always has the Cap Langkau label slapped on the front,
the distillery’s bottle cap and a free cup covering the top. I shit you
not, I did not put that cup on top of the bottle, all Chap Langkau
liquor bottles comes with one complimentary plastic cup (the colors may
vary, but the size is similar). This is to show that the company cares
about its clientele and like sixthseal.com, their aim is to please. ;)

Basically, once you open it, you need to drink the whole thing since
it’s not resealable. However, we do not shirk away from potential
methanol induced end organ damage from dodgy breweries to provide you
this fine review so…wait…hang on, shit I think I’m going blind!

All kidding aside, it comes with a full money back guarantee – if
the product causes any damage as a result of fudged distillation
processes resulting in product contamination, they basically give you
your RM 5 back. ;)

Bottoms up!

Okay, okay I’ll be serious now. :) I’ll say the alcohol content is
around the 30-40% mark, maybe with some added methanol to keep prices
low and drinkers high. ;) We used to say they choose to name it langkau
as in the Hokkien phrase “lim kau lu lang kau”. I’ll tell you one thing
about these motherfuckers though…they’ll give you one hell of a
hangover.

P/S – In all seriousness, my personal advice would be to avoid these
home brewed liquors (moonshine, if you will). It smells like paint
thinner, it tastes like paint thinner. It probably has some
paint thinner in it. :p I get more fucked up on this than branded 40%
liquors. RM 100 says the methanol content in these things exceeds
industry standards. Methanol is the less benign relative of ethanol and
is not a good thing to consume. It’s a stupid thing we used to drink as
poor teenagers but as a working adult, you probably would want to avoid
it except for experimental purposes. The inebriation this white liquor
induces is unsurpassed by regulated liquors so that might appeal to
some experimental users. This was the first time since I was 19 or so
that I’ve revisited this liquor and I do not wish to attempt it again.
But another notorious brand (Cap Apek) awaits…full review soon.
*sigh* My poor brain cells…

Hartz Chicken Buffet is an eat all you can buffet for RM 13.90. It’s
main feature is chicken, but they have a wide range of other things on
offer like salads, cakes, soft serve ice cream with toppings and free
flow drinks. It is a firm favorite for stoners with the munchies and
people who eat more than 2 pieces of chicken (which works out to be
more expensive at traditional outlets like KFC, McDonald’s etc). Here’s
a couple of pictures from the outlet in Kuching at Sarawak Plaza.

This is the dining area. There are tables for two lining the main aisle with group tables at the back and to the side.

This is the food area. There are warmed plates which you pick up and choose whatever food you want.

There’s a salad bar with fresh vegetables. The areas all have sneeze
guards but there is a large clientele of children so I don’t think that
works all that well.

This is my favorite dessert area – with apple crumble, pies and all sorts of other sweet warm food.

There’s also another area for sliced cakes (not warmed like above).

Of course, there’s also a free flow self serve drinks area with
sodas (usually drink 100 Plus, remnants from my tweaking days) and
coffee and tea.

This is the best feature of Hartz Chicken Buffet – a soft serve ice
cream machine! I love this, you can make your own sundaes with the
toppings provided on the side.

Finally, this is the main feature of Hartz – here’s where the
chicken bit comes in. This is the chicken bar, with fried chicken,
roasted chicken, fried chicken liver, fried chicken stomach (they call
it gizzards) and well…just all sorts of chicken. Mmm…tastes like
chicken.

Here’s a close up of the chicken. This is the fried chicken and the
roasted chicken. The management staggers the food out ie it comes out
in intervals instead of all at once. Thus, there’s only two offerings
at the point this photo was taken. More comes out as one batch finishes
and there’s a mad rush to get the good bits – drumsticks and thighs.

This is how I make my sundaes – put some apple crumble and bread
pastry on the bottom, fill with soft serve ice cream and sprinkle (or
droop) with the topping of your choice.

This is the classic Kiss Me “cough drops” in the Orange Ginger
variety. I like this flavor compared to the other varieties like cherry
(too cloying), blueberry (hmm…) etc. There is a small picture of a
woman coughing on the sweet packaging:

Despite the apparent target market, Kiss Me candies are eaten as
normal sweets. I used to remember them being widely available and
they’re in the top 5 most popular sweets when I was in primary and high
school.

This is what the orange ginger type looks like. There are bits of
slightly darker orange embedded in the candy – I suppose that’s the
“ginger” bit in “orange ginger”.

I have no angst filled posts to make because nothing bothers me. I
keep up with news but I feel no urge to add further commentary.
Benzodiazepines – the Soma of Brave New World. I have become less
human, uncaring and unfeeling. Or more human than human, evolving
beyond the petty issues and folly that concerns mere mortals. ;)
Depending on which way you want to look at it really…half empty, half
full.

Of course, here at sixthseal.com we always aim to please. That last
bit was all tongue in cheek and is not meant to offend. Jesus Christ,
chill out already, have a Xanax or something, you guys are so strung
out. ;)

Bako. It was when we were drinking at a coffee shop (discos and
other entertainment venues raided in a show of We Are Doing Something
(TM) to Badawi) when a Drunken Inspiration (also TM) struck – Let’s go
to Damai! Thus, we drove around town (well, not all of us obviously, I
never drive on Saturday expeditions coz I aim to get fucked as) and
went to several hotels and finally Holiday Inn, Kuching to ask for all
the numbers.

Damai (both resorts) were fully booked due to the long weekend
(public holiday on Monday) and so was Santubong. It was suggested that
we go tomorrow instead for a day trip. Obviously, being in enough such
situations, I knew we weren’t going anywhere tomorrow if we didn’t
leave now, so “Off to Bako!”, I said. =D Despite it being close to 5 am
and boats probably start at 7 am, off we went to pick up Ah Ann. The
four of us arrived at the jetty for boat pickups around 5:30 am.

It was dark still and we sat there stoned, I mean, drunk, while
waiting for the first boat to depart. It was beautiful, the sun slowly
coming up and brightening everything slowly, the scene was an amazing
work of art by nature. I was looking forward to taking photos of Bako
National Park. Please note that no substances were consumed besides
plenty of alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and wheatgrass
*cough* juice for sustenance. I think it was amazing that so many
sedatives could be taken and still keep us up for so long.

Anyway, the first boat came at 7:15 am and off we went to Bako. It costs RM 80 for a return trip for 1-5 passengers.

The speedboats did not go as fast as the name suggests, but it did serve its purpose and got us there in about 20 minutes.

There were a lot of interesting structures (by nature) that we passed on the way to the national park.

The boat driver dropped us off at the jetty:

This jetty is only accessible during high tide, the sea water (South
China Sea) recedes far below this point during low tide. We had the
munchies really bad so the canteen was the first destination. There is
only one canteen in Bako, imagine that!

They had sausages, eggs, roti canai (like it with milk), pisang goreng etc and I had two big plates of that.

We then went to get registered – it costs RM 10 per person for entry
to Bako National Park on top of the boat fare. We then went on one of
the trails that leads to a viewpoint towards the sea. I noticed that
most of the shots I took were blurry due to a lack of sobriety. It
should be noted that walking on Bako trails while not quite sober is
not exactly the safest thing to do due to the sharp dropoff inclines.

This is the view from the top of the Tanjong Sapi trail. We then decided (unwisely) to go on another more challenging trail.

It involved walks around huge boulders with a feet of leeway between
the boulder and a 200 meter drop into the jungle. However, massive
benzodiazepine consumption tends to lead to a nonchalant attitude and
general suppression of any fear triggers (which is where the
therapeutic use comes in) and alcohol leads to a pugilistic attitude,
so off we went (I wonder how many times I’ve used this phrase in this
post).

It should be noted that most plants in the jungle have thorns! Fuck.
Many a times, I grabbed into a benign looking vine only to feel my
flesh penetrated by spines. The trail didn’t lead anywhere (think we
got off it at some point), so we went back to base to go on the
waterfall trail. It was too far (5 1/2 hours return trip) for our
scheduled 2 pm pickup so we went on to the mini waterfall near base.

I nearly fell in if not for one of my friends grabbing me while taking photos. You drink, you walk, you spill. ;)

Here are some other notable photos taken at Bako National Park:

A wild boar roaming through the park. I wonder what it’s thinking.

There was some kind of divine statue carved into the limestone that the natives seem to worship.

The best photo of the day (week, month even). A tiny featherless bird
hatching out of an egg with another egg by its side. Anyone who takes
or uses this photo without due credit or compensation will be promptly
castrated.

Watch out for falling coconuts!

Obligatory photo of me at the Bako National Park sign. My gf tells me
that I must be fat coz if I get thin, she would assume I’m using
methamphetamine again, giving in to the siren calls of “faster,
stronger, better”, “sleep is for the weak”, “be all that you can be”
and all that, thus I have to carry excess baggage…

Naughty monkeys around. Watch out.

Monkey family on top of the roof of a chalet. Dominant male not too happy that I was eying his mate.

Low tide sea view.

This is us at Bako National Park. Monash University should pay me for all this product placement. ;)

Everyone has to walk through knee deep sea water to reach the boats
coz low tide recedes the water level to beyond the jetty. We got on the
speedboat and it was back to Kuching we went…

I feel obligated to relate to thee the events that happened on this
extraordinary day, the 21st of February 2004, two hours past full noon,
though it may well be the 22nd by the time you see this, dear sirs and
madams. I fear that the title may be slightly misleading and I shall
switch back to my normal style of my writing now to be less irritating.

Okay, so I just went doctor shopping. No passionate rendezvous with
any female doctors happened, wtf is wrong with you people? ;) I meant
to write “My afternoon (spent doctor shopping) with a (doctor who
happens to be female)” that’s all. My apologies for any
misunderstanding. Anyway, if you still want to hear about it, here’s
the payload: alprazolam (Xanax) and midazolam (Dormicum).

I passed by a clinic while driving around after work and noticed a
clinic. Why not, I thought, let’s go doctor shopping. Anyway, I saw
that this clinic has a female doctor’s name (not that it’s of any
significance) but I did not expect the doctor to be this young and
aesthetically pleasing. Who says there aren’t any hot chicks in med
school? ;)

Well, anyway, I reckon she’s around my age (!), by the looks of
things and gave her the usual veritas doctor shopping spiel (TM). Most
of you would know the gist of what I usually say, so I’ll spare you the
details. I now straight out say I’m on benzodiazepine therapy (the key
word to emphasize is therapy) and I add that “the psychologist who
evaluated me felt that it was justified to continue past the usual 2-4
weeks due to the circumstances surrounding my medical history”.

It’s never failed me, that last bit. ;) This is doctor shopping
(Kuching Edition) #4. I’m a bit wary about revealing the gender of the
doctor coz I don’t think there’s many female doctors in Kuching…plus
I saw her surfing the net on her computer when I walked in. I have a
lot of drug related keywords which the site has a high rank and it
wouldn’t exactly be hard to find this site or castitas.com with a
search engine.

How many female doctors are there in Kuching anyway? I’ll delete
this post out of respect (and self-preservation ;)) if there’s only
one. And please, don’t be a smartass and post the name of the doctor if
there’s really just one. :p Back to the post, I told her I was on 1 mg
of alprazolam twice daily and 30 mg of flurazepam at night. Respect to
the doctor, she knows her benzodiazepines.

She does not have 1 mg tablets, only 0.25 mg ones but was willing to
prescribe 8 tablets per day for an equivalent dose. Which brings us to
the strange phenomenon of doctors mostly carrying 0.25 mg Xanax tablets
in Kuching. Wtf? Who the hell only takes 0.25 mg of alprazolam? It
boggles the mind! 2 mg tablets are impossible to come by, only select
doctors carry 0.5 mg and 1 mg ones…

No flurazepam as usual (I wonder who stocks this since it’s on
Malaysia’s pharmaceuticals list but no one carries it!), so I asked for
nitrazepam, which she didn’t have as well, so I asked for clonazepam
and that’s a negative too. She told me she has midazolam though, and
asked me how much I usually take. I said 15 mg obviously, but she only
carries the 7.5 mg ones.

I could have asked for 2 x 7.5 mg but I didn’t want to push the
issue (plus Dormicum is expensive…) so I settled for 7.5 mg nights.
She asked me whether I took it everyday and yeah, I said I did. I also
added that I “don’t take it recreationally, just to manage my
condition” for emphasis. Foot in mouth. Both were wrong answers for she
gave me this wary look when I said “recreationally”. /me kicks self.

She first said it was okay for me to come back for refills but after
this exchange, told me that she thought it would be better for me to
get re-evaluated by a local psychiatrist and she’ll be happy to give me
a permanent script upon the letter by the psychiatrist. I went into the
“been evaluated in Melbourne, it’s a hassle want to sit through 3 hours
of going through my psychiatric history” zhue zhau (literally
“finishing move”, otherwise known as the final backup I have in my
doctor shopping artillery :p).

Nope, she didn’t fall for it. She went:

“I understand that it can be traumatic for you to go through another
evaluation, but I cannot ethically continue refilling it without a
psychiatrist’s letter of approval. As you well know, benzodiazepines
lose their efficacy (she used the word efficacy, much respect to her,
didn’t talk Dumb Speak for Patients (TM) with me) after a prolonged
treatment period, and I think you may benefit from a reevaluation”.

I said I can understand that but I would appreciate it if she could
make an exception because I was new to the city and it would be
difficult for me to fit the psychiatrist into my working schedule, plus
I could provide her with my Australian psychiatric and medication
history. Now this is my last, last, final, final, really lame “secret
weapon” and it worked as well as Iraq’s military against the US aerial
onslaught.

Thus, I gave in and after negotiations, settled for a 1 week supply.
She mentioned that I could refill it due to the nearer proximity of her
clinic ONCE I get the psychiatrists letter. I guess I won’t be going
back then, I’ll be angling for clonazepam instead of alprazolam (which
I take for fun) and midazolam (which I take recreationally as well) if
I really do go to that psychiatrist. Good doctor nevertheless, very
easy to talk to and doesn’t dumb down the terminology with her
patients. This one gets sixthseal’s…er, seal of approval for real
medical conditions that requires a visit to the GP.

This, my good friends, is Camino Tequila. It comes in one of the
nicer bottles I’ve seen. The bottle is nicely decorated with a cloth
piece and a sombrero. That’s a “Mexican hat” for those of you who
doesn’t know what a sombrero is. :p Calling it a “Mexican hat” is not
politically correct, sombrero, my friends, sombrero.

Anyway, this is importado (which I take is imported) from Mexico and
it says Camino Real Blanco tequila. I think it’s really pretty, the way
it’s dressed up. How often do you see a bottle with clothes and a hat?
Not very often. This was acquired at a very premium price of RM 83.50
from a legitimate establishment.

It’s a good thing I’ve hooked up with “duty free” resellers now so
paying such prices would be a thing of the past. Phew. The “duty free
liquor” industry is pretty sophisticated now. They even have fucking
pricelists! I was introduced by a friend (the very same one who showed
me the 3rd mile outlet last time, how bizarre huh?) so yeah, now I’m
paying RM 30 – 45 for normal bottles (JD, Absolut etc, not the premium
XO, cognac stuff obviously).

It’s very chuggable too, even at room temperature. To be honest, everything is chuggable to me, even 95% alcohol
[sixthseal.com], and IMNSHO anyone who needs that lime and salt and
chaser shit are sissies. ;) I would use the word “pussies” but I don’t
want to lose my “G – General audience” rating. Hah, fuck, lost that
ages ago. Seriously though, if one can’t handle chugging distilled
spirits, how the hell are you going to get pissed? I’m not saying that
I’m “harder” or anything absurd like that. It’s just…come on, “Just
neck it”. That could be a catchphrase, as “Better enjoyed with
benzodiazepines” could be another. ;)

P/S – I’ve finished the bottle so please excuse any inappropriate
behavior while I write this post while inebriated. Disclaimer to please
the HRP (Harm Reduction Police) – some people actually believe alcohol
and benzodiazepines would result in an instant one way trip to the
morgue. Happy now? Good.

Update: The fine piece of drunken literature you see above
was written a couple of days ago and I was wondering whether I should
post it at all or condemn it into the sixthseal.com Archive Vaults. I
decided to post it since I’ve found a duty free operation so I have to
more photos to add. Here’s the Camino Tequila Gold:

My apologies, I drank it before I took a photo of it. Shocking behavior, I’m sure. ;)

I liked the Gold one better, packs a stronger punch.

The “duty free” (aka “Malaysian Duty Not Paid”) ones do not come in
the outfit but it’s only RM 45. Camino Gold goes for RM 45 in the DF
market while the white ones shown above is RM 40. Here’s the two
brother’s side by side. Blanco is empty while Gold is half full (or
half empty, depending on your perspective). ;)